The present invention relates to the treatment of biologically and radioactively contaminated solid wastes prior to disposal. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus to facilitate autoclaving of such wastes to render them biologically harmless.
Recently, a great deal of biological and medical research has been directed to infectious diseases such as AIDS. In the course of such research it is common to use radioactive materials for such techniques as end-labelling of DNA, metabolic labelling of proteins, reverse transcriptase assays, Cr-release assays and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte assays. As a result, glassware, gloves and other solid laboratory materials often become contaminated with biological materials (e.g., viruses and bacteria) as well as with radioactive isotopes. Because these materials are biologically contaminated, they cannot be accepted at waste sites designated for disposal of radioactive materials. Also, conventional methods of inactivating biologically contaminated wastes (e.g., incineration and autoclaving) are not appropriate, due to the production of volatile radioactive compounds. This presents a disposal dilemma for solid materials which are both biologically and radioactively contaminated.
There is thus a need for safe, effective techniques for treating and/or disposing of solid waste materials which are both biologically and radioactively contaminated. Current practices for treating and handling materials which are either biologically or radioactively contaminated are not applicable to materials which are both biologically and radioactively contaminated.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatuses for treating and disposing of solid waste materials which are biologically and radioactively contaminated. A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus to facilitate autoclaving of solid biologically and radioactively contaminated wastes in such a way that volatile radioactive compounds are not released into the environment and biological contaminants are inactivated. Additional objects will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following disclosure.